Sheriff’s Sale, 1845

Vintage paper
Frame: Stained pine & pine molding
12 x 12 in | 2018

According to the research of Professor Carol Wilson, William W. Peacock, a northern Kent County farmer, purchased forty acres of woodland on Fairlee Creek for approximately $1,000 from Washington College in 1841. Peacock and the college entered into an agreement that warranted installments, with interest, to be paid by August, 1844. As collateral, Peacock used four African Americans he enslaved. Henry, around the age of 36, Minte 34, Harriett, 11 and Jim about 7 years old.

Professor Wilson's research shows that in January of 1844, Peacock was falling behind in his payments and wrote to the College’s Board of Visitors and Governors Treasurer Joseph Wickes, hoping to be granted an extension on his debt. By September that year the Board sued Peacock for the $350 he still owed and the Kent County Circuit Court ordered Peacock to turn over his property to the board to satisfy the debt.

In July of 1845 the college board chose to sell the enslaved people that Peacock had used for collateral. Missing from this group of four people were the adults Henry and Minte, who were replaced by children named Emory and Juliana, ages 6 and 4. In the Kent News the County Sheriff advertised the sale. No record of the outcome of the selling of these children has been found.

This piece is an unedited, direct recreation of that newspaper ad which was uncovered in the Maryland State Archive by Professor Wilson. It is not uncommon to find ties to enslavement amongst early American colleges. Washington College, the United States first college, is one among them, and uncovering and acknowledging these kinds of histories will be vital to the college’s work towards reconciliation.

The historical information above comes directly from Professor Wilson's research, more of which can be found at Slavery and Freedom at Washington College.